Algebra Worksheet 2 – Simultaneous Equations and Manipulating Surds
All SMC, BMO and Mentoring problems are © UKMT (www.ukmt.org.uk)
1. [Source: Frosty Special] Find all real solutions x , y , z to the following simultaneous
equations:
2 x+ y + z =2x +2 y + z =12x + y +2 z =6
2. [Source: BMO Round 1] Find all real numbers x , y and z which satisfy the simultaneous
equations x 2−4 y+ 7=0, y 2−6 z +14=0 and z 2−2 x−7=0.
3. [Source: UKMT Mentoring] Find all real solutions to √ x−10+ √ x−20=√ x +22.
4. [Source: UKMT Mentoring] Find all real solutions to the following:
a. √ x+ √ 2 x−1+ √ x−√ 2 x−1=1
b. √ x+ √ 2 x−1+ √ x−√ 2 x−1=2
5. Find all positive integer solutions a , b , c , d for the simultaneous equations:
ab+ cd=38ac +bd=34ad +bc=43
6. [Source: BMO Round 2. Therefore highly difficult and highly optional for those who want the
challenge!]
Find positive integer solutions to√ a+ √ b=√ 2009.
www.drfrostmaths.com/rzc
Algebra Worksheet 2 - ANSWERS
1. Find all real solutions x , y , z to the following simultaneous equations:
2 x+ y + z =2(1)x +2 y + z =12(2)x + y +2 z =6(3) We can exploit the symmetry by doing
( 1 ) + ( 2 ) +(3) which gives:
4 x+ 4 y + 4 z=20 → x + y + z=5(4)Now using ( 4 )−(1), ( 4 )−(2) and ( 4 )−(3) we directly get
x=−3 , y=7 , z=1.
2. Find all real numbers x , y and z which satisfy the simultaneous equations x 2−4 y+ 7=0,
y 2−6 z +14=0 and z 2−2 x−7=0.
Usually when we have a combination of say x 2 and x , we’d be inclined to complete the square. But
the x 2 and x terms are in separate equations. Adding them all together solves this problem, and
completing the squares gives us:
( x−1 )2 + ( y−2 )2 + ( z−3 )2 =0But since squared terms must be at least 0, and the RHS is 0, we must
have x=1 , y=2 , z =3.
3. Find all real solutions to √ x−10+ √ x−20=√ x +22.
Squaring both sides and simplifying, we get 2 √ x 2−30 x +200=52−x. Then squaring again and
simplifying, we get 3 x 2−16 x−1904=0 which factorises to ( 3 x+ 68 )( x−28 )=0 , giving the
−68
solutions x= or x=28 . As per the discussion in the slides, we have to actually check these
3
values, because say for example we had 1=−1 , then when we squared both sides, 1=1: thus we
need to make we didn’t introduce any false solutions when one side had a value which was the
−68
negative of the other. We find that x=28 is a solution but x= is not.
3
4. [Source: UKMT Mentoring] Find all real solutions to the following:
a. √ x+ √2 x−1+ √ x−√ 2 x−1=1
By squaring and simplifying we get √ ( x−1 ) = 12 −x.
2
1
At this point, as per the lecture slides, we consider |x−1|= −x . If draw the two graphs
2
1
y=¿ x−1∨¿ and y= −x we can see there’s no solution (as there’s no intersection).
2
2 1 1
Alternatively, we could have simplified √ ( x−1 ) = −x to x−1= −x which
2 2
3 2 1
provisionally gives us x= . Bug substituting this into √ ( x−1 ) = −x shows this is not a
4 2
valid solution.
www.drfrostmaths.com/rzc
b. √ x+ √2 x−1+ √ x−√ 2 x−1=2
2 3
Squaring and simplifying gives us √ ( x−1 ) =2−x . This provisionally gives us x= 2 .
Substituting this into the original equation (which as we’ve seen is a required check!), we find
it is indeed a valid solution.
5. Find all positive integer solutions a , b , c , d for the simultaneous equations:
ab+ cd=38 ( 1 )ac +bd=34 ( 2 )ad +bc=43 ( 3 )Adding equations ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) , we get
( a+ b ) ( c+ d )=77. The possible factor pairs of 77 are 11×7 , 7 ×11, 77 ×1, 1 ×77, −1 ×−77, …
However we can ignore the negative pairs because the sum of two positive integers can’t be negative.
We can also handily ignore those where one number is 1, because the minimum possible sum of two
positive numbers is 2. Thus either a+ b=11 and c +d=7, or a+ b=7 and c +d=11. This still
leaves too many possibilities (i.e. 60 ) to consider!
There’s many ways to proceed from here. I just substituted a and c in equation ( 2 ) by using a=7−b
and c=11−d . By expanding and refactorising, ( 2 b−11 ) (2 d−7 )=−9. This gives 6 possibilities of
factor pairs for -9 (e.g 2 b−11=−3 , 2 d−7=−3) although only three of these are valid because
either the resulting b or d would be negative or b ’s value exceeds 6 (the max is 6 within a+ b=7 ) or
similarly for d . This leaves three possibilities: ( a , b , c , d )=( 4,3,10,1 ) or ( 2,5,7,4 ) or ( 5,2,4,7 ) .
Then finally checking these, the first of these doesn’t work for equation ( 1 ), but the second and third
options work for all equations.
Or a different approach I tried. ( 3 ) − ( 1 ) gives:
( a−c ) ( d−b )=5 ( 4 ) when factorised. This gives four options for a−c and d−b based on possible
factor pairs of 5. If we do ( 1 )−( 2 ) and factorise we get:
( a−d ) ( b−c )=4 (5 )This gives 6 options for a−d and b−c based on factor pairs of 4. Now notice
that ( a−c )− ( b−c )=a−b and ( d−b ) + ( a−d )=a−b . This allows us to compare our options (4)
and (5) Suppose from (4) we used a−c=5 and d−b=1 . And suppose from (5) we used
a−d=4∧b−c=1. Adding/subtracting in the way just described gives a−b=4 and a−b=−3.
Thus contradict.
Sifting through each of the 24 possibilities quickly (because for each of the 4 possibilities for ( 4 )
there’s 6 possibilities for ( 5 ) ), we find our solutions.
We can see the second strategy I used was worse, because I only rounded down to 24 possibilities
before exhaustively checking them, whereas in the first strategy I only had 3 to check, of which only
one was invalid!
6. Find positive integer solutions to√ a+ √ b=√ 2009.
As per the tip in the slides, when we have two variables and surds involved, have one variable on each
side of the equation so that squaring doesn’t combine them:
√ a=√2009−√ b(1)a=2009−2 √ 2009 b+b (2)a=2009+b−14 √ 41 b(3)
Clearly, for the RHS to be an integer, 41 b must be a square number.
www.drfrostmaths.com/rzc
So 41 b=k 2 for some k . Looking at the factors on each side, since 41 is prime, we can see b must
have a factor of 41 (since it has to appear at least twice on the RHS). So model this as b=41 t . So
k =41 t 2.
Let’s also see what we can find out about a . Since we’re taking its square root, then a=s 2. But we
can see from (3) that the RHS is divisible by 41 (since √ 41 b=41 t 2 and b=41 t ). So let a=41 s2.
If we substitute these into our original equation, we get √ 41 s + √ 41 t=7 √ 41, i.e. s+t=7 . This
gives us 7 pairs of solutions for s and t , from which we can find a and b . ( 0 , 2009 ) , ( 41 ,1476 ) , …
www.drfrostmaths.com/rzc
